Charles and Camilla Visit Royal Ballet School

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited the Royal Ballet School at White Lodge in Richmond Park on Wednesday to attend the school’s Royal Gala Performance. In the spirit of the occasion, Camilla was dressed in a long pale-blue dress and coat with a ballet-dancer brooch.

Click to see the photo at the Royal Ballet School website

The Lower School (teaching pupils aged 11 to 16) is based at White Lodge, an 18th-century house originally built as a hunting lodge for George II. In the mid-19th century the house was occupied by the Duke and Duchess of Teck and their three sons and daughter, Princess May, who later became Queen Mary (consort of George V). More recently, it was the first marital home of Charles’s grandparents the Duke and Duchess of York (later George VI and Queen Elizabeth), who set up home there in 1923. The house is undergoing major renovations at present, and Charles is the patron of the Royal Ballet School White Lodge Restoration and Development project.

The royal couple met with some of the pupils inside the building, and then walked down the stairs to see the performance in the Margot Fonteyn theatre. Also present were some of the most celebrated graduates of the school including Darcy Bussell, Sir Anthony Dowell, and Dame Antoinette Sibley.